Generally, in the case where a video tape recorder is made to perform a programmed recording for a certain broadcast program, the user has to control the running mode switch to set the running mode of the video tape recorder. However, users are generally accustomed to pre-register the start and end time of the broadcast program and to forget the setting of the video tape running mode, while the running mode of the video tape is usually set to an SP mode.
However, in carrying out a programmed recording with the video tape running mode set to an SP mode, if the recording capacity of the video tape is larger than the programmed recording time of the broadcast program to be recorded, the whole program can be recorded well. On the other hand, if the programmed recording time is larger than the recording capacity of the video tape, the posterior content of the broadcast program will fail to be recorded due to the insufficiency of the video tape.